Steam-propelled vehicle.



No. 689,332. Patented Dec. l7, l90l. S. STRAKER.

STEAM PRDPELLED VEHICLE.

(Application filed Oct. 5; 1901.)

3 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

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No. 689,332. Patented Dec. 17, I90I.

S. STRAKEB.

STEAM PROPELLED VEHICLE.

(Application filed Oct. 6. 1901.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

No. 689,332. Patented Dec. l7, mm.

s. STBAKER.

STEAM PROPELLED VEHICLE.

(Application filed Oct. 5, 1901.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SIDNEY STRAKER, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

STEAM-PROPELLED VEHICLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 6 dated December 17, 1901:- Application filed October 5, 1901. Serial No. 77,707. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SIDNEY STRAKER, civil engineer, a citizen of England, residing at 9 Bush Lane, in the city of London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Road-Vehicles Propelled by Steam, (for which I have applied for a patent in Great Britain, dated January 21, 1901, No. 1,325,) of which the following is a specification.

In steam-motor vehicles where the motor is placed in the forward part of the vehicle and under the drivers seat considerable disadvantage exists owing to the space of the vehicle occupied lengthwise by the motor, which detracts from the space available for carrying a useful load and extends the total length of the vehicle beyond the desirable limit.

According to my invention I employ an arrangement of compound steam motor in which the center lines of the high and low pressure cylinders are arranged diagonally, making an angle of ninety degrees with each other, the two connectingrods being connected to one crank, so that the action is that of an engine working with two cranks at right angles .to each other, This construction gives the advantages of cheap construction, accessibility, and narrow width of engine.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation, and Fig. 2 is a plan, of the underframe of a steam-motor according to this invention.- Fig. 3 is a section on the line A A,drawn to a larger scale and showing a front elevation of the steam-motor.

I fix the steam-motor a on the frame b under the drivers seat 0, the crank-shaft being arranged lengthwise of the vehicle. The steammotor has high and low pressure cylinders (Z (1, fixed to a crank-casing e, which has'bearings for the crank-shaft f. The steam-generator g is fixed on the front portion of the frame and may have fuel-bunkers h h each side of it. Awater-tank 'i is fixed to the back part of the frame, the water being fed from it into the boiler byafeed-pump j, driven by the steam-motor.

A drivers lever it controls the starting, stopping, and reversing gear of the motor.

The power developed by the motor is trans mitted to the driving-wheels of the vehicle in the following manner: On the rear part of the crank-shaft fare fitted to slide on and turn with the shaft two toothed pinions n n of difierent diameters, each of which by means of a lever worked by the driver can be slid into and out of gear with toothed wheels o of different diameters, fixed on a counter shaft Z, which is journaled in bearings m m. This gearing is inclosed in a rearward extension of the crank-casing 6.

Through a connecting-shaft s and two universal joints t t the shaft Z drives the shaft 10, which is carried in bearings q q, fixed to an underframe r, and has on it a bevel-pinion u, gearing with a bevel-Wheel '0, fixed 011 a transverse counter-shaft 10, which rotates in bearings a: co on the sides of the underframe r. The shaft 10 has on it a toothed pinion 1, which gears with the teeth of the middle wheel a of a differential gear, the bevel-toothed pinions 2 2 of which gear with beve1-wheels 3 3, the one, 3, on the axle 5 and the other, 3, on a sleeve 4, which is free on the axle 5, and has its outer end fixed to the one driving-wheel 6, the other driving-wheel 7 being fixed on the end of axle 5i The axle 5 rotates in bearings 8 8', secured to the sides of the underframe 1', which supports the weight of therear portion of the vehicle through the medium of laminated springs 9. The sides of the underframe r have their forward ends jointed to bracket 11, projecting down from the main frame I). Thus the vertical oscillations of the vehicle can take place without interfering with the driving-gearing, as the axle 5, the bearings of the counter-shaft w, and shaft 10 being fixed to the underframe r are free to move up and down independently of the main frame, the motor and the other parts of the vehicle and the crank-shaft being connected to the axle= gear through universal joints.

The front part of the vehicle is carried on springs 13, resting upon an axle 12, which has pivotedarms, on which the front load wheels 14 14 rotate, and crank-arms 15 15', connected to each other by a rod 16.

I preferably effect the steering of the ve= hicle by means of an inclined spindle 17, car ried in a bearing 18 and having a hand-wheel 19 at its upper end and on its lower end a worm 20, gearing with a worm-segment 21,

having fixed to it an arm 22, the lower end of which is connected by a rod 23 to an arm 24, fixed to one of the axle-pivots. By turning the hand-wheel the front axles are turned so as to steer the vehicle as desired.

Having thus described the nature of this invention and the best means I know of carrying the same into practical effect, I claim- A road-vehicle propelled by steam, comprising a compound steam-motor having its two cylinders arranged diagonally at right angles to each other,and its pistons connected to one crank, pinions of different diameters arranged to slide on the crank-shaft into or out of gear with wheels of diiferent diameters 

